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ViacomCBS Inc. said it is renaming itself Paramount Global this week after it reported a record surge in its streaming-service business.
“Effective February 16, we’ll be bringing together our leading portfolio of premium entertainment properties under a new parent company name,” the company said. Company shares will trade on NASDAQ
COMP,
as PARAA (Class A common), PARA (Class B common) and PARAP (Preferred Stock), beginning Thursday.
ViacomCBS shares
VIAC,
dipped more than 6% in extended trading Tuesday after the media giant reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street analysts’ forecasts but a healthy jump in streaming subscribers led by its Paramount+ service.
The company posted adjusted earnings of $557 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with $1.18 billion, or $1.04 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue climbed 16% to $8 billion from $6.87 billion a year ago.
“Our success was evident across all lines of business, and spotlighted by streaming, where we achieved our best quarter ever in streaming subscription growth — more than doubling our subscriber additions from last quarter with a record 9.4M additions, expanding our total global streaming subscribers to over 56M,” ViacomCBS Chief Executive Robert Bakish said in a statement announcing the results.
Streaming revenue surged 48% to $1.32 billion during the quarter, topping analyst forecasts of $1.27 billion. The media giant — — whose properties include Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV and Showtime — said it expects 100 million subscribers for Paramount+ by 2024, up from previous guidance of between 65 million to 75 million at the end of last quarter. Paramount+ currently has 32.8 million subscribers.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected net income of 43 cents a share on revenue of $7.5 billion. They also expected 52.9 million total streaming subscribers.
ViacomCBS stock is up 19% this year, while the broader S&P 500 index
SPX,
is down 6%.
ViacomCBS’s results come after rivals Walt Disney Co.
DIS,
Apple Inc.
AAPL,
and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
reported strong results, while Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
warned of slackening growth.
ViacomCBS has aggressively promoted its content, including original series “1883,” “Halo” and “Big Nate,” in a full-page ad in the New York Times on Tuesday.
